Deplatformed is a weekly column that looks into the nether reaches of the internet—outside the big few that everyone already covers—to tell you the political discourse online. It runs on Thursdays in the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter. If you want to get this column a day before we publish it, subscribe to web_crawlr, where you’ll get the daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
1) Nashville mayor’s family attacked
This week, right-wing vlogger Steven Crowder revealed three pages from the manifesto from the transgender man suspected in the mass shooting at a Catholic school in Nashville earlier this year that killed six.
The memo had been the source of much consternation in the far-right, who believed it was being illegally withheld by the government because it proved transitioning genders was a radicalizing force driving people to commit mass murder.
When it came out… it didn’t. Deft commenters on mainstream social channels instead claimed schools were radicalizing kids to be racist against white people.
But deep in the recesses of the non-public internet, the trans narrative wouldn’t die as posters found a new target. The Nashville mayor, who said he was investigating the leak, was himself secretly trans.
On sites like Gab and Patriots.win, photos of Mayor Freddie O’Connell and his family circulated, where a series of unevidence accusations and narratives floated about.
“Nashville mayor tried to hide the LGBT manifesto because the issue is *VERY* close to home….” read one thread, sharing images of him and with his wife and children, prodding commenters to speculate.
In a number of posts, the idea floated around that the mayor was worried the manifesto would be damaging to the trans community—which either, he, his wife, or his kids were a part of—and blocked its release.
But given O’Connell wasn’t elected mayor until September, the manifesto was controlled by local police and not his office, and it didn’t mention transitioning, it’s just become an excuse to smear a Democratic family as groomers.
2) Biden sex trafficking ring
The Center for Immigration Studies is a hard-right, anti-immigration think tank that espouses crackdowns at the border and is often accused of parroting white nationalist talking points.
Its latest podcast says that a record number of unaccompanied children are being delivered—due to the policy failures of the Biden administration—straight into the hands of traffickers, explicitly for commercial sex work.
It is “government-sponsored, taxpayer-funded child trafficking,” the podcast says
“It is easier to get an unaccompanied alien child than to get a pet,” said one expert.
But people online took it further. While it would be hard to dispute there’s been a massive influx of migrants, could President Joe Biden be doing it intentionally, to help fund his pedophile rings?
That, according to VDARE, is the true secret to Biden’s open border policies.
“My theory: Perverts in the Biden Administration and their friends in the prostitution Industry pushed through [open border policies], for their profit and pleasure. “
With Jeffrey Epstein no longer around, someone needs to find the children. Joe, while not running the country, has apparently stopped policing the border so that he could corner the market on child prostitutes, according to some people online.
3) Ohi-hell-hole
In this week’s off-year elections, Ohio, typically a bastion of red votes, opted for some wildly progressive policy choices, including constitutionally protecting the right to an abortion and legalizing marijuana.
The response from the right? Take it away, Gettr:
“Ohio descends into hell. Will suffer the consequences.”
“The women of OHIO just put the ‘HOE’ in OHIO!!!! Nasty bitches.”
“Apparently, Ohio has more MOLOCH WORSHIPPERS than God-fearining people. JUDGEMENT can occur at any time. REPENT and receive JESUS CHRIST!”
“Satan and the Democrats are dancing in the streets.
